Sikh student, mistaken for Kashmiri, thrashed allegedly by ABVP members in Hyderabad

Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) members on Saturday allegedly beat up a 25-year-old research student in Hyderabad after mistaking him to be a Kashmiri.

According to a report in Hindustan Times, a group of around 20-25 ABVP members belonging to the BJP’s students’ wing, allegedly attacked Amol Singh when he was on his way back to his hostel in the University of Hyderabad.

Singh, according to the report, was returning from a protest against alleged police atrocities in Kashmir.

“They knocked me down and started punching on my face and stomach and hitting on my knees. My friends and I tried to run away into the hostel and they chased us,” Singh was quoted as saying.

Amol Singh (Facebook photo)

ABVP activists reportedly mistook him for one Bilal, a Kashmiri and a former student of the university, because of his beard and skin.

Bilal, an active member of student politics on the campus, had returned to Kashmir after completing his PhD a couple of months ago.

Singh said, “That is why ABVP was angry and in the darkness, they mistook me as Bilal… They left only after the other students cordoned me and took me into the hospital.”

Another student, Munna, who stays in the same hostel said that hostel security guards didn’t make any efforts to rpotect Singh.

He said, “The ABVP students barged into the hostel saying: Where is Bilal? We will teach a lesson to that anti-national.”

Singh alleged that another group of ABVP members thrashed him after he reached the hospital.